The Bent's Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail is hosting an event at the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and Museum, 560 Bent Avenue in Las Animas, November 8 at 1:00 p.m. to feature Kent Brooks.

Brooks is a writer, researcher, historian, and technologist dedicated to recovering and sharing the layered history of the High Plains.

Born and raised in Springfield, he was shaped by stories of broomcorn harvests, Dust Bowl endurance, and the big cattle outfits that once rode Southeast Colorado. He now owns the Plainsman Herald and uses its newsroom and archives to reconnect community memory with the historical record.

Brooks leads several preservation efforts centered on SE Colorado, including the reprint—and expansion—of the 1983 Baca County History Book (with anew Volume II), and the Cowboys, Dirt, and Brooms museum initiative highlighting broomcorn culture, ranch life, and Dust Bowl resilience.

His publications include “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come”; “Guthrie to Gotham: The Extraordinary Rides of the Abernathy Boys”; and a volume on the Santa Fe Trail and Bent’s Fort that explores trail commerce, the trading empire on the Arkansas, and the vast buffalo herds whose decline reshaped the Plains.

Current projects track the Prairie Cattle Company’s JJ brand, the regulator Bill Thompson (“the man with two reputations”), and other moments where press coverage, power, and place collide.

For nearly 30 years, Brooks has also led IT and distance learning work across the West—experience that informs his interest in how technology, archives, and local journalism can sustain small towns. He lives and works in Casper, Wyoming.